The CHAPLIN musical- Page 5

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 8/24/12 at 2:51pm

PopAria- All the videos were McClure.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/24/12 at 3:57pm

Who is his understudy?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/24/12 at 4:01pm

Whaaat?

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/24/12 at 4:46pm

Turn up the hearing aid Phyll.

[lady godiva2]

Posted: 8/24/12 at 5:23pm

I was fortunate to attend the first preview of CHAPLIN Tuesday night. I can say with absolute certainty that this is the tightest preview I have ever seen. While some of the choreography needs to be cleaned up a bit, and a few of the vocal cut-offs were out of sync, CHAPLIN is a very strong show (and this is coming from someone who, admittedly, finds something to hate about everything). There is no "cheese" in this show - it does not contain glitz, glamour, or camp. While I believe that there was potential for this show to have many, MANY cringe-worthy moments, they were curbed, with excellent taste by the creative team. The book is excellent. The lyrics didn't make me want to vomit, and, despite complaints on this thread, I was content with the score. Not a single number felt out of place. It all made sense. Perhaps I was most impressed by this, by McClure's excellent performance, and by the fact that somebody actually found a way to effectively use Jenn Colella's talent.

My only gripe - there has to be one, right? Was the child usher in the first act. I found the role to be an odd choice, at once distracting and unnecessary. This is minor, however. Anyone else?

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 8/26/12 at 10:23pm

Saw it today, and loved it. McClure's performance is a tour-de-force. The audience seemed to eat it up, many folks crying openly - grown men with their wives, too.

If they figure out how to advertise it, trim 8-12 minutes, they could have a sleeper hit.

And "no plot"? His life is fascinating. Give me a break.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/27/12 at 12:53am

"grown men with their wives"
as opposed to
"child-like men with their wives"?

What was everyone crying about?

[TimesSquared]

Posted: 8/27/12 at 1:16am

^^^ probably the score

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 8/27/12 at 8:41am

People were moved by his story.

SPOILER -- When the colors finally came in at the final scene, pretty much everyone in my area lost it. Myself included.

Maybe YOU didn't like it, but there are a lot of people who seem to.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 8/27/12 at 8:42am

The look-a-like contest really happened. And if you didn't laugh your a** off at the Gold Rush kickline, something's wrong with you. Cause that was some funny, funny sh*t.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/27/12 at 9:17am

Why so defensive? There's something wrong with me because I didn't laugh my a$$ off? Poppycock. I enjoyed the show. I think it has some real potential, but it is hardly groundbreaking or monumental.

I teared up a few times, but I hardly "lost it". Ever.

Did most of the people around me seem to really enjoy it? Yes, but so did people at Ghost, and B&C, and gads of other shows that just aren't very good. Mind you, I think Chaplin is worlds better then either of the shows I mentioned, but I don't know why you are defending it so stringently.

[newintown]

Posted: 8/27/12 at 10:52am

Saw it over the weekend. Bland stuff. Slightly amusing at times, but it's a watered down version of the real Chaplin. McClure is capable, but I would never call him a "star" (and not just because the word is meaningless). I see him having a Christopher Fitzgerald-like career - nothing to be ashamed of, but certainly not above the title.

The score is a tragedy - utterly generic and totally forgettable. The book is a by-the-numbers biography, with no point of view, imagination, or theatricality.

It's a basic-cable-tv biography with some songs. But I think the real Chaplin might be too complex a subject for a Broadway musical (like Marilyn); if they had lied more, fictionalized it more (a la Funny Girl and Gypsy), it might have been a better idea.

EDIT: I won't discuss how "the rest of the audience" reacted because a) all I could speak for would be those near me, and b) who cares? Most audiences will jump to their feet for a goat eating a phone book.
Updated On: 8/27/12 at 10:52 AM

[Sauja]

Posted: 8/27/12 at 11:07am

I'm surprised the claws aren't out on this one. Easily one of the worst new musicals of the past few years. Newintown is right: the book is completely by-the-numbers with no wit, no ingenuity, and no heart. The music is completely forgettable, and the design elements are wildly undercooked. A talented cast wasted. It's the most lifeless musical I've seen in ages.

And that lookalike contest: I don't care that it actually happened. It's just tacked on to give a big Act 1 finale. Of course, the whole thing seems to have been thoughtlessly dribbled onto the page, so the fact that there is zero context for it is hardly surprising.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 8/29/12 at 11:48pm

I saw Chaplin again tonight to see if any changes had been made, and really nothing much is different. The scene between Hedda Hopper and Sydney Chaplin where he threatens her to lay off his brother has been cut. Also Hopper's exchange with Goddard is gone, although the first two wives still get to insult her.

Other than that? They aren't touching it. Why even have more than a week of previews if you aren't going to fix things? I understand needing enough previews to make sure the sound and technical aspects work, but creatively Chaplin (and so many other musicals) come to Broadway 90% frozen.

Without the benefit of an enthusiastic first preview audience the show really limped. There was tepid applause for the numbers and most jokes received mild reaction. (It takes a film clip of Hitler in the second act to generate an audience response!)

The score is horribly generic, but on a second listen I have a couple of the tunes stuck in my head.

Sauja- The reason I don't think the claws are out is because it's so mediocre and earnest that it isn't worth it to tear it to shreds. This isn't Into the Light or Raggedy Ann (though those would have been much more fun!). This is like Minnie's Boys with a far inferior score.

[kyl3fong2]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 1:23am

I saw the show tonight and agree with what's been said on this thread. A forgettable score and set and costumes designs that looked impressive but got old really quickly.

Rob McClure was phenomenal though in my opinion, and it really is a pity that they didn't write better songs for him to sing.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 1:38am

I understand needing enough previews to make sure the sound and technical aspects work, but creatively Chaplin (and so many other musicals) come to Broadway 90% frozen.

I have been wondering about this as well. WHY are there month long preview periods when it seems like next to nothing is changed? Shows that have had long preview periods that needed changes have just not taken advantage of their preview periods. Wonderland, Bonnie and Clyde, Catch Me If You Can, Spider-Man 1.0, Leap of Faith, and many other shows had long preview periods, but changed very little. I do not understand the point. The only show I can think of recently that REALLY used their preview period was Women on the Verge.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 1:48am

13 changed a lot, and Cry-Baby made a concerted effort to make changes. Both of those shows probably changed more than Women on the Verge even did.

Most changes are fairly cosmetic. A line of dialogue here, a costume fix there. The score is almost never tinkered with, not even to rewrite a verse of lyrics.

Because sets, lighting, etc are so computer automated, and so expensive to fix, once you have your set and light cues programmed you're set. It would be very expensive for most of the shows to make the necessary changes they would need to make. Shows can always cut material, but if they want to merely alter or make changes it's a near financial impossibility.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 2:54am

So they are cutting Hopper's scenes when Collela is getting some great Buzz?

[newintown]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 9:14am

Whizzer's right - most shows these days are hog-tied by elaborate and unchangeable scenic elements once they move in to the theatre.

Add to that this question - just what kind of significant changes do you think the creative team can make after working on this thing for a decade already? The well is clearly dry (how can you possibly keep a sense of perspective after looking at the same thing for years and years?), and bringing in a show doctor and ghost writers seems to be a rarity now.

Remember when Gower Champion and Jerry Herman completely replaced a huge Act I production number in Hello, Dolly weeks before they came into town? I can't imagine that kind of significant change today.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 10:03am

CPD- They are making Coella's part smaller even though she's having the most fun in the show, but it really is extraneous material. At the first preview Hopper overtook the entire show in Act Two. It became more about her than Charlie. It was actually kind of like how Arachne overtook Spider-Man in the first version. They had to dial her back, but unfortunately for the audience it comes at the expense of spending less time with Coella.

newintown- You were right to underline "significant." It's not minor nips and tucks that shows need, but new songs, new book scenes, perhaps the addition or deletion of a supporting character. If Chaplin wanted to make a significant change they would give Charlie a new 11 o'clock number- maybe one that we haven't heard in 15 other NYMF shows before this.

Chaplin has two very half-baked concepts. The first is that we are watching Charlie's life as if it were a movie. When Noll and young Charlie enter they aren't in character until some guy comes out with a clapper board and says something like, "Chaplin early days, scene 1 take 1," and then they begin. The conceit is abandon early one though, and wouldn't be very difficult to lace throughout the show. It could be like Chicago with different ensemble members announcing the scene they're about to shoot. Maybe when Charlie meets Oona they could say, "Charlie falls in love, take 4," or something like that. Either develop the concept or drop it completely.

The other concept is that life in Hollywood/Charlie's life is just a three ring circus. Some of the storytelling is very stylized. The three first wives knockout Charlie in a boxing ring, etc. But then after this scene were are given a very pedestrian book scene with Sydney and Charlie in an office. It's too bad they couldn't keep this concept running through the show.

For example, Wayne Wilcox is doing some nice work in his book scenes, but I think he really should have a song, and there's a good potential concept situation to give him one. Wilcox, as Charlie's brother and manager, has all these scenes at a party where he negotiates better contracts for Charlie. The party could turn into a circus like auction where Wilcox bids up his brother's contract to a whopping million dollars in a quick, wordy patter song as the auctioneer. (Maybe he could even be dressed as the ringleader of the circus in tails and top hat.)

Part of the reason Coella's number lands so well is because it is in the circus concept. They would need to make the significant changes newintown mentions to get the show all on the same page, and at this stage of the game, it's simply too late.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 10:51am

I'm glad you enjoyed yourself Godiva, but I have to wonder when "the lyrics didn't make me want to vomit" became a recommendation (it doesnt' reflect well on the state of the musical theater). Maybe they should put that quote under the marquis.

[Sauja]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 1:44pm

Interesting point, Whizzer, about the claws not coming out because it's simply mediocre. I suppose that (with a few exceptions), I've always been the sort of person who doesn't get angry at a noble failure but is made truly angry by an earnest bore. I long despised Memphis, not because it was a terrible show, but because I found it so thoroughly mediocre. Whereas The People in the Picture, I thought people were too tough on because in spite of its myriad problems, it had very obvious aspirations.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 2:25pm

Wayne Wilcox should always have a song. And preferably no clothes.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 3:06pm

Is there any Silent nudity involved?

[Wicked Fanatic]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 3:57pm

Was absolutely shocked and saddened when I saw the photos here from the show. The black and white stage design was not in the La Jolla production that I saw in 2010. Even though I haven't seen the Broadway version I'd say I'm not eager to now.

This is what was printed about the show and its cast when it played at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2010. The two best in the show in La Jolla are the only ones that remain with the OBC.

A new musical called Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin with music by Christopher Curtis, book by Christopher Curtis and Thomas Meehan and directed by Michael Unger, will play at the Mandell Weiss Theatre and will run from September 7 - October 17, 2010. The show will star Robert McClure (Avenue Q) as Charlie Chaplin and Ashley Brown (Mary Poppins and Beauty and the Beast) as Oona. Other castmembers include LJ Benet (You Again, Diary of a Wimpy Kid) as "Young Sydney," Jenn Colella (Broadway's Urban Cowboy, The Times They Are A-Changin') as "Hedda Hopper," Eddie Korbich (Broadway's The Drowsy Chaperone, The Little Mermaid) as "Karno," Janet Metz (original company of Falsettoland, Playhouse's Harmony) as "Hannah," Brooke Sunny Moriber (Broadway's Follies, The Wild Party) as "Mildred," Ron Orbach (Broadway's Chicago, Laughter on the 23rd Floor) as "Mr. Chaplin," Roland Rusinek (Broadway's The Phantom of the Opera, A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden) as "Alf," Jake Schwenke (title role in Broadway's Billy Elliott) as "Young Charlie/Jackie," Matthew Scott (Broadway's Jersey Boys, A Catered Affair) as "Sydney" and William Youmans (Broadway's Wicked, Playhouse's Dracula the Musical, Randy Newman's Faust) as "Older Charlie." The ensemble includes Aaron Acosta, Courtney Corey, Matthew Patrick Davis, Justin Michael Duval, Sara Edwards, Ben Liebert, Alyssa Marie, Jennifer Noble, Krt Norby, Carly Nykanen, Jessica Reiner-Harris and Kirsten Scott.

I liked it when it was in La Jolla and it had problems, but hoped that they would be corrected since for me it had promise of being a good musical production.

Here are some comments I made at another website about the show that I saw which obviously is now very different especially in the staging:

Sad to say that the one I bolded above is the only one here not in the play. The program had him listed as Older Charlie, but there was an insert with the current songs and the cast and he was gone. At the after show discussion I found out why. He was one of three who played Charlie in the previews but after the last preview which was the dress rehearsal they decided to take him out. It was apparently too jarring for audience members who after seeing Robert McClure playing Charlie for the entire play and then in the final scene suddenly see someone new and much older with Oona White, his 4th and last wife. Because of audience feedback in the previews Wicked's first Dillamond got the heave ho. Needless to say I wasn't happy. Since I had never seen him in the OBC I was excited to be able to see him in this but in the end it didn't happen.

Thoughts on the show:

Beautiful scenic design using panels which seem to be used a lot in plays that I've seen recently.
(I have a feeling these are now gone?)

Especially loved the beginning in which there was a movie screen with a Charlie Chaplin title and then out of it stepped a young Charlie Chaplin. At the end of the play they reversed it with older Charlie stepping into the screen into one of his classic films. GR8!
Do they still do this?

Original music and lyrics by Christopher Curtis are okay but nothing that made me leave the theatre humming any songs. Guess this still hasn't changed?
I liked "Vaudeville Dream", "Just Another Day in Hollywood", but the two best were "The Tramp Shuffle" and "Where Are All the People" which brought the house down.

No big dance numbers except for the fun "Tramp Shuffle".


Here is the song list from when I saw it in La Jolla. Were there lots of changes?

Act 1
The Music Hall--Young Charlie, Hannah & Company
Look At All the People--Hannah
Vaudeville Dream--Karno, Sydney & Company
If I Left London--Charlie
Tramp Shuffle--Sennett, Charlie & Company--Moved obviously and Charlie was in the one that I saw
Change Your Story--Charlie, Sydney & Company
Mildred's Change the Story--Mildred and Charlie
Someday--Charlie It was a dreadful ending to Act 1

Act 2
Just Another Day in Hollywood--Charlie & Company
The Life That You Wished For--Charlie
When It All Falls Down--Hedda Hopper = SHOWSTOPPER
A Man of All Countries--Hedda Hopper, McGranery & Company
The Exile--Hedda Hopper & Company
Where Are All The People--Charlie
What Only Love Can See--Oona and Charlie
This Man--Company

Now for the cast which was like a "Who's Who" of current Broadway performers:

Rob McClure as Charlie was fabulous. He embodied Charlie Chaplin's famous Little Tramp from his sad-sack demeanor and playful orneriness to the shuffling gait as he swung his cane along with the customary Chaplin pratfalls. His singing was sensational especially when he delivered the powerful "Where Are All the People" in the 2nd act after his celebrity stature was destroyed by the hateful and despicable gossip columnist Hedda Hopper who used "Red Baiting" to destroy his career in America. For those of you too young to know what "Red Baiting" is or who she was google her and find out how powerful the lies she printed were. It was a **** performance by McClure. I can't believe how far he's come from his first venture on Broadway in Avenue Q. Hopefully this vehicle will get him a second and bigger gig on Broadway.

Then there's Ashley Brown who was the main reason I went. If I had gone expecting her to be the big star I would have been very disappointed because she's not. She actually plays two roles. First is Charlie's mother at the beginning of the play who was a vaudeville entertainer who was committed to an insane asylum and then doesn't reappear until the end of the play when she is Charlie's fourth wife, Oona O'Neill, the daughter of playwright Eugene O'Neill. She may not have been in it as much as I wanted but when she was she was exquisite especially in her duet with McClure, "What Only Love Can See" and the first musical number "The Music Hall" in which I giggled to myself when she pulled out and unfurled an umbrella. *** for Ashley
The wives were a real mess in the La Jolla version with Paulette Goddard being left out completely. Obviously they enhanced this part of the story with the boxing scene because that was NOT in the La Jolla production.

Supporting actors are really good and many play more than one character. The best is definitely Jenn Colella as the vindictive gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. She appears briefly in act one which gives the supposed reason why she would hate Chaplin (still just as silly and stupid as I remembered in La Jolla) and then her evilness is unveiled in full force in Act 2. For me she was the star of the second act and brought the house down when she sang When It All Falls Down. **** for Jenn.

Matthew Scott was GR8 as Charlie's brother Sydney Chaplin. I loved his singing voice which Sondheim on Sondheim in which I saw him didn't do justice to at all. His performance earned *** 1/2.

All in all, it was a great afternoon of good musical theatre and hopefully it will be lighting up a marquee on Broadway this season perhaps in the Spring!
For how long remains to be seen?

Here are the reviews from the La Jolla Playhouse production:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2010/09/theater-review-limelight-the-story-of-charlie-chaplin-at-la-jolla-playhouse.html
Charles McNulty was not a fan and many of the problems talked about here still remain in the Broadway production.

http://blogcritics.org/culture/article/theatre-review-la-jolla-limelight-by/
Blogger who was mixed

http://www.theatermania.com/san-diego-theater/reviews/09-2010/limelight-the-story-of-charlie-chaplin_30552.html
Read how the set design for La Jolla was done which looks a lot better than the total black & white one chosen for Broadway. He called it a mediocre musical; where have I read that before?

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117943639
Love the comment about the Act 1 finale song:
"Power Ballad "Someday" ("Somebody's going to want me") closes act one as an instant contender for the number-one song you never want to be trapped in an elevator with--so true!


http://www.nctimes.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/theatre/article_869019ad-5fb4-5c63-a033-0ca31dda03de.html

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2010/sep/29/theater-Limelight-story-charlie-chaplin/

http://www.backstage.com/review/la-theater/limelight-the-story-of-charlie-chaplin/
"Hampered by a disappointing book and score; Christopher Curtis' score is enjoyable but unexceptional; one yearns for more memorable melodies and bona fide showstoppers".